Chapter 07: The Battle of Barious
Batomys | vehicles = | officers = None | aces = Kanazar the Lion | ace drop = ZM Kar 2(g) }} Chapter 07: The Battle of Barious '''is the seventh chapter of Valkyria Chronicles. The combat mission in this Chapter is called '''Desert Duel with Maximilian. Story While the events of the previous chapter take place inside the ruins, Rosie and the other members of Squad 7 remain outside the guarding against any potential threat from the Imperial forces remaining in the desert. As she scans her surroundings, she once again voices her opinions regarding the Darcsens. Isara makes her own opinions clear and the discussion escalates into an argument, forcing Largo to intervene. Though Largo's intervention ends the argument before it really begins, it is obvious to him that it would not be the end of the matter. Meanwhile as Welkin, Alicia, and Faldio continue their examination of the ruins, a spiral relief opens before Alicia to reveal a hidden pathway. Faldio comments that there are no records of a deeper section to the ruins, so the trio are quick to enter the newly discovered pathway, intrigued by the possibility of a new historical discovery. Through the hidden pathway, Welkin and the others discover a spiral staircase that leads them even deeper into the ruins. As they proceed, Faldio is shocked by the revelations described by the ancient text carved in relief upon the walls, however these new discoveries pale in comparison to the shock of finding themselves face to face with the commander in chief of the Imperial army, Maximilian and his second in command, Selvaria Bles. Instinctively, Alicia draws her sidearm in an attempt to capture the pair, but Selvaria, moving with unnatural grace position herself between the two, her body glowing in the darkness with a pale blue light. Maximilian calmly states that he is not willing to shed blood within the sacred halls of the temple, but when he discovers that the young man before him is Welkin Gunther, the proverbial thorn in the Empire's side, the prince suggests that they settle this matter outside. Once outside the temple, Maximilian appears with Imperial reinforcements atop the super heavy tank, Batomys, and an intense battle with between them and Squad 7 commences. Close by masses of Imperial reinforcements led by Selvaria Bles form up against the remaining militia units, including Faldio's Squad 1. As she unleashes her Valkyria's Power, her body is engulfed in a bright blue glow as Faldio, Alicia & Welkin saw only moments before and with the "War Witch" Selvaria Bles leading the way, the Imperial forces swarm across the desert plains towards the Gallian forces, who brace themselves for the battle to come. Topography The map is much smaller than the last few maps but this is to your disadvantage, as your maneuverability will be badly hampered when you need it the most. Your deployment zone is in the North Western section of the map split across two zones, the main Gallian base is in the South Eastern section. The map is split in two by a large cliff face with access between the two sides through a narrow pathway in the middle and in the area around your main base. To the Western side of the map is the Barious Ruins, the Eastern side is strewn with rubble, ditches, trenches and walls which can be used to delay the Batomys. Landmarks and Street Names *Barious Temple *Trench A1 *Trench A2 *Trench A3 *Trench A4 *Trench B1 *Trench B2 *Trench B3 Let me catch you up on the current situation "Let me catch you up on the current situation. The enemy commander, Maximilian, is making for our base camp aboard a massive tank. It is imperative that you stop him before he reaches us. Your objective is the destruction of that giant tank. It is equipped with machine guns on both sides, so brace yourself for a merciless reception as you approach. Keep your distance when possible, and use your tank and lancers to take those machine guns out one by one. It also has large-caliber cannons at both fore and aft ends that can't be destroyed. Their range is as you see here. They will fire at anything that stops in the range depicted. Keep your tank and troops clear of them if you want to live." 'Mission objectives' Victory *The giant enemy tank is destroyed Failure *Gallia's base camp is destroyed *Welkin dies *The enemy occupies Gallia's base camp *20 turns pass "You'll commence combat now. Stay sharp out there." Strategy *Before the mission starts ensure that you have visited the headquarters and spent the Exp and Ducats earned in the previous mission and equip your troops and armoured vehicles with the latest weapons and upgrades. *Initially it is important to deploy your best lancers as your main objective will be to destroy the turrets along the front and sides of the Batomys and then disable it by destroying its radiators. To do this you must climb the tank (which is why it is important to take out the turrets) and destroy its radiators with your lancers. *The radiator can be easily destroyed by climbing the tank and throwing only 1 grenade into it. *As always be sure to deploy your three leader units Alicia, Largo and Rosie to take advantage of their CP boost. *It is also useful to deploy a sniper in the western most camp to take out enemy infantry hidden in the ruins or atop the cliff edge. *The massive tank starts out effectively invulnerable; only the gun turrets can be damaged, while the hull is invincible the Batomys will only open up its radiators' protective shields when it fires its main cannon and the tank will only fire if it's path is obstructed by the large blue ruined sections of wall which can be blasted into its path using the Edelweiss' main gun or your lancers., when all three radiators are destroyed, the Batomys' hull becomes vulnerable to attack. *The Batomys' machine gun turrets are particularly dangerous since Maximilian routinely uses the "All Units Attack" Order to strengthen them against infantry. *Out of all the enemy infantry deployed initially there is a scout who can capture your main base at the end of turn two; a good way to defend against this is to leave a couple of infantry slots free when you initially deploy and then call forward a sniper and a shocktrooper as reinforcements. It is also possible to take out the enemy squad including the Scout by deploying a Sniper at the Northern base and climbing up onto the walkway on the East side of Batomys itself. *The main threat to Edelweiss is the heavy cannon to the Batomys' rear. The Edelweiss should never be positioned in a way that gives this gun a shot at the radiator, or it's an instant mission fail *Batomys moves in a roughly C-shaped course around the flat area in front of the Temple; its moves are fixed, and it will always move in the same manner, aiming to run down the three bases in the area one at a time. When the Batomys drives over a base, the flag will be destroyed. This predictable path means it is easy to predict where the Batomys will be facing and position troops and the Edelweiss accordingly. *You must abandon your intermediate camp in the west by the end of turn 5. *As difficult as this mission sounds the worst is yet to come. As soon as you destroy both of the Batomys' radiators Selvaria Bles will appear in full Valkyria mode at the head of a squad of veteran Imperial troops including the ace Kanazar the Lion in the North Eastern section of the map close to the Northern edge of the ruins. *Selvaria is almost completely invulnerable in full Valkyria mode, so don't waste your ammo. * Luckily Selvaria will be more concerned with rescuing Maximilian and will spare no effort in advancing towards the disabled super tank, any of your units in her path will probably be ripped apart or mopped up by the acompanying infantry. *All that remains now is to finish off the Batomys before Selvaria can cause too much damage, all available anti-tank units should fire on the boss to bring it down as quickly as possible. With the maximum 20 CP and engineers on hand to restock Lance ammunition, it's actually quite possible to destroy the Batomys the same turn it becomes vulnerable. *When the reinforcements arrive, it is possible to wipe out most of them (Including the ace) with a single mortar round from the Edelweiss. Only lancer and one soldier outside the blast radius will likely remain. The rest can be finished off with a sniper. It is important to make the Edelweiss retreat though as it will be fired on by the Batomys if it does not do so. *The easiest way to defeat Kanazar the Lion is with intercept fire from the top of the cliff. He is armed with the ZM Kar 2(g), which is also your reward for defeating him. Rewards Aftermath With the Batomys disabled and Maximilian in retreat the tide of battle turns in favor of the militia. Prioritizing Maximilian's safety above all else, Selvaria immediately ceased her attacks on Squad 7 and leads a detachment of troops to extract Maximilian from the battlefield. Though they have won the battle, the militia forces suffer severe losses and worst of all most of the damage had been caused by a single woman. Faldio unconsciously recites parts of the old legend, "Armed with lance and shield of glowing blue light.. Deflecting all arrows...". The Valkyrur described in the old legend had always been nothing more than characters in a fairytale to the people of Gallia, yet Welkin and the others had just witnessed the legend come to life right before their very eyes. Note/Trivia *This is your first encounter with Selvaria Bles and fighting her is futile. While she is not actually invulnerable, she has 50,000HP, 20 Def, auto-blocks attacks with her shield (this does not count as dodging and so cannot be negated by the Potential "Undodgeable Shot") and her interception fire is 75 damage x 10 rounds. She also fully heals as if she is in a base at the beginning of each enemy turn. * Edelweiss with Increased Payload can lightly damage all radiators, with help from Demolition Boost. If all radiators are at the same low health, such as after 2x Lancaar M2 shots with the Tank Slayer potential, this can destroy all radiators together, making it possible to win in 4 turns without giving Selvaria time to act. * Hiding troops behind the Edelweiss will tend to render them safe from attack; since Selvaria is a high-level enemy and the AI has no adjustments for her near-invulnerability, she will stop moving when encountering interception fire. This will tend to leave her stuck firing at the front of the Edelweiss, which her weapon only scratches. *On your second playthough Selvaria Bles can be defeated by using a flamethrower with the Order "Penetration." Mechanically, Selvaria's shield seems to protect her in the same way as crouching behind sandbags, and assigns her a ridiculously high or infinite Def bonus. The flamethrower disregards the "cover" and Penetration the Def bonus. *Also on the second playthrough, it is possible to use the Edelweiss' smokescreen to prevent them from being attacked by Selvaria. Category:Valkyria Chronicles Missions Category:Valkyria Chronicles